Page 24 of Passion and Deception

Maggie glanced at Ann, wondering if she was seeing the same thing. Sure enough, Ann’s gaze was curious as she watched the scene unfold.

Intriguing, Maggie thought. Perhaps she wasn’t the only one struggling with romantic issues lately.

However, there was no time to ponder the issue. They had to get back out to Todras. “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to act fast,” Maggie announced.

“I’ll clean up the coat.” Ann grabbed the still-damp jacket and headed out of the room right behind Maggie. They heard Hendrix snarl, “You should have come to me about this!” as they closed the door.

Outside, Maggie and Ann paused, staring at each other. “What’s going on?” Ann whispered.

“No clue!” she hissed back. “I’ll get this one out to Todras.”

Ann grabbed Maggie’s arm right as Maggie turned to head down the hallway. “What are you going to tell him if he asks about the contents of the pockets?”

Maggie bit her lip, pondering the question. Then she perked up and said, “I’ll just tell him that we don’t go through pockets. And the jacket will be back with him by the end of the evening. Can you work miracles on that spot?”

Ann looked down at the jacket, then nodded. “Yeah. It’s mostly just damp. I’ll dry it up and put some of the dry cleaning spray on it. The stuff that makes everything smell like it just came out of the dryer.”

“Good plan,” Maggie replied. “See you later.”

The two women moved off in opposite directions. Maggie walked out to the room and gave Humphrey Todras a professional smile as she held out another drink. “Here you go, sir.”

The man grumbled as he took the drink. “Make sure she doesn’t steal anything from me.” He grumbled the comment as he adjusted his temporary jacket. It was actually a better quality wool and Maggie suspected that the man was contemplating how he could walk out with both sports jackets at the end of the night.

However, Maggie’s heart was aching too much for her to stand there. What was Ramit’s phone number doing on the back of naked photos? And why did Todras even have Ramit’s private phone number in the first place? They hadn’t looked happy with each other when they’d appeared to be arguing out on the patio.

None of this made sense. But she was going to send a message to the Annapolis land development commission and suggest that they investigate the land purchase and proposed development. Something wasn’t right.

Beyond that, she wasn’t sure what else she could do.

Chapter 19

Ramit stared at the contents of the envelope. The naked pictures of his sister were there, spread out over his desk. They’d fallen out of the manila envelope with a note that said, “The land deal is off.”

Just like that? The idiots returned the photos and called off their demands that he finance their building project?

And why the hell had they sent him printed photos? What had they done to the digital images? The ones that Todras and Mathis had sent to him via email?

What the hell was going on? He wasn’t sure, but he would ask his security team to investigate Todras and Mathis. Ramit needed to figure out what those two idiots were up to. Their blackmail scheme had obviously gone ridiculously wrong. Were the two men as bad at blackmail as this seemed? Surely no one was this stupid!

However, Ramit wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. But who had sent him the incriminating pictures and why? He couldn’t compare handwriting since Todras and Mathis had only communicated with him via email.

His thoughts flashed to Maggie. Had she done this? Had she somehow realized that he was being blackmailed and addressed the situation?

No, that didn’t make sense. Maggie was…?

He was going to say that she was a self-centered bitch. But that wasn’t true. Maggie was soft and sweet and…and she’d just wanted a bit of spoiling. Was that why she’d sidled up to Barney Mathis? Or was there something more going on?

He’d never know.

With a heavy sigh, Ramit picked up the scattered pictures, stuffing them back into the envelope, and walked out of his office.

“Where’s my sister?” he asked of his assistant, Hamud.

Hamud jumped to his feet, and bowed quickly before he replied, “I believe Princess Ciara is in her office, Your Highness.”

Ramit nodded, then turned down the hallway. Ciara had set up her personal office outside of the administrative wing of the palace. He’d never understood why she’d chosen to be so far away from everyone else. Nor had he ever figured out exactly why she’d needed an office. What did she do all day? Years ago, he’d thought that his sister shopped for a living. Ciara was always well dressed in the latest fashions. And she traveled to all of the fashion capitals around the globe. Hell, she’d just returned from Milan two days ago.

Is that where she’d met the man in the pictures? Did she have other lovers? An even more important question; did her fiancée know about the other men?

---